The Cave of the Yellow Dog
Encyclopedia
The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005
) (Mongolian
Шар нохойн там) is a Mongolia
n/German
film written and directed by Byambasuren Davaa
. The film was submitted as Mongolia's contender for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
. It won the 2006 Deutscher Filmpreis
Award for Best Children's Picture.
The story is a gentle fable
about the limitations of life and its acceptance. A girl learns the painful lesson of letting go of want and desire when her father insists on leaving her new found stray dog. However, the ending of the film offers hope—another lesson of life being full of changes and the consequences of change may bring unexpected rewards.
to her family. The family of five lives in a yurt
and lives off of their livestock, which include sheep, goats, and cattle. Nansal's father is worried about his family's survival because of the wolves that have been attacking their herd.
While Nansal is out collecting dung, she stumbles across a cave in which she finds a black and white dog. She brings the dog home and names it "Zochor" (Spot). Her father is worried, knowing that wolves live in caves and may follow its scent and kill their livestock.
The father departs for town on his motorbike, to sell the pelt
s of the sheep killed by wolves. He instructs his wife to get rid of the dog before he is home. Nansal is sent out to graze the herd, but she is distracted and gets lost. The mother is distraught when the herd comes back without Nansal and goes out looking for her.
Meanwhile Nansal finds refuge in the yurt of an elderly woman. The old lady feeds Nansal and gives her shelter while a storm passes. It is here that Nansal hears the story of the Cave of the Yellow Dog. In this story, a yellow dog is trapped in a cave with no exit by a man to cure his daughter's illness.
The mother finds Nansal soon after and takes her home. Zochor is still with the family when the father returns home. He is angry but still gives gifts to his wife and children nonetheless, including a plastic ladle and a flashlight
(torch). The father tries to sell Zochor to some wolf hunters, but Nansal tells them she found him in a cave and the deal falls through.
It is time for the family to move on. They pack up all of their belongings and the yurt and load them onto carts to be pulled by their cattle. The three children are put onto the wagons, with Nansa watching her younger brother. Zochor is tied to a stake so he cannot follow them. Nansal is distracted by Zochor and does not watch her brother. Her brother escapes.
The family travels several miles until they realize that their son is not with them. The father turns back immediately and rushes back on his horse. Meanwhile their son is rushing towards a flock of vulture
s. He ventures near a stream, while moving further and further from Zochor. When the son is right next to the flock, Zochor breaks free and scares them away.
The father returns and hugs his son. In the final scene, the family's wagons travel down the road, with Zochor in the wagon with Nansal and a truck driving down the road blaring reminders to vote in the upcoming elections.
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
) (Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
Шар нохойн там) is a Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
n/German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
film written and directed by Byambasuren Davaa
Byambasuren Davaa
Byambasuren Davaa, really Davaagiin Byambasüren , is a Mongolian film maker currently residing in Germany....
. The film was submitted as Mongolia's contender for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. It won the 2006 Deutscher Filmpreis
Deutscher Filmpreis
The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...
Award for Best Children's Picture.
The story is a gentle fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
about the limitations of life and its acceptance. A girl learns the painful lesson of letting go of want and desire when her father insists on leaving her new found stray dog. However, the ending of the film offers hope—another lesson of life being full of changes and the consequences of change may bring unexpected rewards.
Plot
The story opens with Nansal returning from boarding schoolBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
to her family. The family of five lives in a yurt
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...
and lives off of their livestock, which include sheep, goats, and cattle. Nansal's father is worried about his family's survival because of the wolves that have been attacking their herd.
While Nansal is out collecting dung, she stumbles across a cave in which she finds a black and white dog. She brings the dog home and names it "Zochor" (Spot). Her father is worried, knowing that wolves live in caves and may follow its scent and kill their livestock.
The father departs for town on his motorbike, to sell the pelt
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
s of the sheep killed by wolves. He instructs his wife to get rid of the dog before he is home. Nansal is sent out to graze the herd, but she is distracted and gets lost. The mother is distraught when the herd comes back without Nansal and goes out looking for her.
Meanwhile Nansal finds refuge in the yurt of an elderly woman. The old lady feeds Nansal and gives her shelter while a storm passes. It is here that Nansal hears the story of the Cave of the Yellow Dog. In this story, a yellow dog is trapped in a cave with no exit by a man to cure his daughter's illness.
The mother finds Nansal soon after and takes her home. Zochor is still with the family when the father returns home. He is angry but still gives gifts to his wife and children nonetheless, including a plastic ladle and a flashlight
Flashlight
A flashlight is a hand-held electric-powered light source. Usually the light source is a small incandescent lightbulb or light-emitting diode...
(torch). The father tries to sell Zochor to some wolf hunters, but Nansal tells them she found him in a cave and the deal falls through.
It is time for the family to move on. They pack up all of their belongings and the yurt and load them onto carts to be pulled by their cattle. The three children are put onto the wagons, with Nansa watching her younger brother. Zochor is tied to a stake so he cannot follow them. Nansal is distracted by Zochor and does not watch her brother. Her brother escapes.
The family travels several miles until they realize that their son is not with them. The father turns back immediately and rushes back on his horse. Meanwhile their son is rushing towards a flock of vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
s. He ventures near a stream, while moving further and further from Zochor. When the son is right next to the flock, Zochor breaks free and scares them away.
The father returns and hugs his son. In the final scene, the family's wagons travel down the road, with Zochor in the wagon with Nansal and a truck driving down the road blaring reminders to vote in the upcoming elections.